"Mental illness impacts
one in every five of America's young people and, unfortunately, we are facing
an extreme shortage of health care professionals equipped to care for these
individuals," Collins said. "To combat this problem, I joined with
Congressman Courtney in introducing bipartisan legislation to create incentives
for doctors to practice specialized pediatric care in underserved medical sectors
like child psychiatry."

"Access to pediatric
health services is critical for families nationwide, but many families find
themselves too far from the physician specialists their children need,"
Courtney said. "This proposal would help draw more pediatric doctors into
specialties that treat children and adolescents with serious physical, mental
and behavioral conditions, specifically in rural and underserved areas. I thank
Congressman Collins for his leadership on this issue, and I look forward to
working with him to advance this important legislation."

This legislation would amend
the current federal program, the National Health Service Corps, which provides
loan relief to various health care professionals, to include pediatric
subspecialists. It utilizes existing funds to provide financial relief to an
underserved medical service area and is cost neutral. Additionally, it is
endorsed by the American Association of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry and
the Child Neurology Society.